A dance of Astrology, Mythology, Philosophy and Spirituality!
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| Happy Karthigai Deepam! Image credits - Photo by Sash Sriganesh on Unsplash |
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| Happy Thanksgiving! Image credits - Pixabay.com |
Last week, we discussed how a purpose greater than ourselves should lead us through our life. A golden rod of value, ethics, integrity, character and morality. These aspects and another thousand more together is called Dharma in Hinduism. Instead of Hinduism, I like to perceive the spiritual practice I do as Sanatana Dharma- A way of life! The religion as such called Hinduism emanated much later. But as all of you know, this blog is not about history, facts or what happened before.
This blog is about how to take many spiritual and philosophical concepts and use it towards our life, so that we live our life with a gleaming mind, intelligence and intellect. Practical spirituality and philosophy! How to use our mind in a sharp, focused spear like manner, so that it pierces the goal and we can move our life more towards that goal. Like this we keep on throwing the spear of focus at our own life that cuts through the darkness of confusion, chaos and ignorance. In Hinduism, we call this darkness as Maya- the grand illusion!
Maya - The Grand Illusion: I have written many posts on Maya- the illusion of the material world. There is the Maya of the collective consciousness as well as the Maya of the personal consciousness. In 2021, the Maya of the collective is the chaos and confusion, especially the electronic one we can feel and perceive. Can you feel it? The noise and the chaos - whether of the elections, religious movements, politics, uproar for rights, internet, social-media, bitcoins, meta, big or whatever data, ethnic movements, climate change, movements for freedom, rights and equality.
Yes, all of these are important, extremely important and are the truths and facts of our modern twenty first century. But the fear, scare and the worry that accompanies it, is it necessary? Let us think for a second. At this moment, the very second, I am writing and you are reading this, are we in danger? Are we? That one moment called "The Present". As a human we only have this one second to do anything. But thinking about fear or death that may be years and even decades away, we live in fear for the rest of our life. Think about the moment after moment that is getting wasted by our fear, worry and stress. The Maya of fear and worry and the truth that at this one moment or second- we are okay. Why worry about next moment and the next and waste this one precious moment? The concept of living in the "NOW"!
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| The illusion or Maya that rules our material life! Image credits - Pixabay.com |
In this fear, worry and stress what do we neglect? Our life itself. A mind that is bogged down with fear, worry and stress, can do nothing. The life, the moments as well as our Dharma- purpose is thrown to the wayside and we live every second of our life stressed out. So, what truly is happening? Each one of us live in fear and stress within our own life and then collaborate and talk to each other, sharing our stress and worry with each other. Like this when a whole lot of people are interacting with each other, these small snippets of fear we contribute to the collective coffers of our global mind. So, the personal fear and stress feed the collective conscious and in turn the collective consciousness feed the personal consciousness these snippets of information of fear, worry, stress and chaos through media, TV, newspaper and internet. Back and forth and back and forth!
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| Rahu, the magician! A sculpture from Thailand! Image credits - LigerCommon, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
The mind needs to be under our control to access this wisdom. But if the mind is grasped by fear, worry, stress, anger and rage- lower forms of Rahu and Kethu, the mind is not free to do the purpose. So, the human as well as the collective conscious sits within the fear and worry- the Maya and everyone's life except for a few, slips away one second at a time. Later at old age, all of us look back at our lives with regrets of the opportunities we missed or the chances we never took.
Saturn: Into this mix of Rahu and Kethu, throw in a third player, Saturn. Now, the team is complete. Lol! Saturn in Vedic astrology is the lord of the material realm. His sole agenda is - check whether the Soul is doing their Dharma or purpose. Are they using their mind, intentions and actions- Karma, to do something towards their Dharma? He is the Karmakaraka- significator of Karma in the natural chart of the Kaalapurusha. As he is the lord of the material world, he is also the ruler of Kaala- time. He is not interested in money, material wealth, pomp or pride. He is not. His one and only question- Are you using your Karma- actions to do your Dharma- purpose!
Remember, he is the king or the ruler of the material world. He has everything in his chest of drawers, even the Earth itself. So, in Vedic astrology, if Saturn is well placed, that person won't shy away from work- whether mental or physical work. We, humans have a notion that only physical, bodily work is Karma, not the mental or emotional work of teaching, guiding, designing or learning. I would have to laugh at that perspective. This is another Maya or illusion. It is!
The mind as well as our emotions are still within us, in our physical body. In such a case, how can we consider only physical work as important? Even mental and emotional works are ruled by Saturn. That is why Capricorn, the sign of Saturn signifies the physical work of building, organization and structure. The same Saturn lords another sign, Aquarius, which rules the realm of the mind, but not the emotions. But in astrology there is a concept called Bhavat-bhavam, where the sign who is exactly the equal places from the first sign rules a higher aspect of the previous sign.
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| Shani - Saturn, the lord of material world in astrology Image credits - Suraj Belbase, Naksaal Bagwati Temple, Kathmandu, Nepal via Wikimedia Commons |
All realms within: So, the perception that the human is just the physical body is wrong. Within the human body and even six inches protruding from our body is the Soul. These six inches is the aura, which many people are able to perceive. But what has happened in the modern world? We have thrown the mental, emotional and spiritual realms under the bus. This is why even with every modern gadget ever invented, people are still sad, worried and stressed. Because modernity has only happened to the physical world. The mind as well as emotions are still living in the dark ages or the nineteenth century.
Even today humans in many parts of the world believe that God is an outer entity that brings miracles into our life. If someone else, always decides for us, why are we having our own mind, intelligence and intellect? Yes, governments are needed for smooth workings of a society, people and organizations. But for our personal decisions like what to pursue for our life, how to live our life and what values to uphold, should we give the reins to just a book whether Bhagavath Gita, Bible or Quran? All these books were written around 1500-2000 years ago.
Using our mind, intelligence and intellect shouldn't we contemplate whether all the rules and regulations should be put into practice exactly as it was written? In Mahabharata, people used to travel by chariots. Today would we prefer to travel by a chariot or a car? So, in the physical world, we prefer change. Then, what about mental and emotional worlds? Should a mind that of an authoritarian or a dictator be allowed to rule another million minds? This is where the question of free will and choice comes - the difference between a true Democracy and Authoritarianism. In a Democracy, the free will of the single person is given a voice. In authoritarianism, there is no voice for the individual. It is twenty first century, right?
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| Kethu- The wisdom from the past lives and ancestors Image credits - Arjuncm3, via Wikimedia Commons |
We can see how spirituality, astrology, mythology and philosophy are intricately connected. A true and deep astrologer would be able to grasp all the four areas as well as the physical realm, mental realm, emotional realm and the spiritual realm. Many different angles and directions of an issue or a problem. This is called spiritual astrology or spiritual philosophy where higher questions and ideals get asked and contemplated upon. Nowadays, many may feel I am confusing everything. Actually, I am not.
Instead of dividing things as astrology, mythology, philosophy, spirituality or science, I am able to see and perceive the interconnections. Above this, I am also able to perceive the different levels of depth- physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. I am clear about the ideas and thoughts. But to make another understand and make it very simple- that is where I struggle. Because these concepts many times are other worldly and at the present moment, non-existent in the Earth.
An example: Let me elaborate this interconnection with an example. As we all know, MahaVishnu took the form of a lady called Mohini- the charming vixen to divide the celestial nectar Amrit among Rakshasas and Devas. As per my research, MahaVishnu many times has the nakshatra of Shravana (Thiruvonam). He dealt with the snake or dragon, Swayambharu. Now, count the star that is exactly opposite to Shravana, which is Aslesha (Ayilyam) - the star of the Nagas- serpents. Swayambharu was a serpent, who was cut into two pieces by MahaVishnu. Swayambharu became Rahu and Kethu- the trunkless head and headless tail, respectively.
The above story already dealt with mythology as well as astrology. Now, MahaVishnu was very ethical, moral, giving value to truth and honesty, while Swayambharu was unethical. He tried to sit in-between the Devas to get the nectar. Here, now philosophy has poked its head. The nectar or Amrit is the celestial knowledge of immortality. How can a person become immortal? By inner contemplation and meditation to understand, we are not just the physical body, but we are the Soul that is a small spark of the Universe called Brahman.
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| Viswaroopa - The Universal form of Brahman Image credits - Nomu420, via Wikimedia Commons |
Another important point is, every human who is born in Sravana nakshatra does not have the energy of MahaVishnu or every human born in Aslesha is not Swayambharu. Sravana nakshatra person can exist in a lower vibratory state, a person who instead of being a leader and helping in preservation of the organization - energy of MahaVishnu, use all the goodies and leadership to make themselves authoritative and arrogant. Examples- people like Hitler, Pol Pot or Stalin. Energy of a selfish leader. Same way Aslesha in the highest form is the energy of Vasuki - the king of Nagas or Serpents, truthful, honest and very authentic.
This post was to show that mythology, spirituality, philosophy and astrology exists for the humans. To help the humans to make the journey as a human Soul to be easier, with intelligence, intellect and integrity. To make a human of the higher caliber, ideals and perspectives. Instead, as usual in the Rahu or the rakshasa way, we take everything, turn it, bend it, mold it or meld it to our advantage and use it. Rahu in the lower energy is the thief, cheat, deceiver and the magician who takes everything and uses it for selfish reasons. The same thing or anything always can be taken and used for a great purpose, something greater and grander than ourselves and our tiny lives!
So, the question finally comes down to the human and their mind- Rahu or MahaVishnu? Rakshasa or Deva? Human or Inhuman? Always our free will and personal choice! Finally, if we realize, MahaVishnu also is Viswaroopa with everything existing in him - Brahman or the Universe and all of us a speck of that star dust⭐🌟!
Thank you for reading! Hope all of you are doing well and vibrant. Finally, the end of 2021 is fast approaching. What a ride of two years it had been, was it a roller-coaster or a hamster wheel? Whatever it was, it took a toll on humanity and made a huge mess of things. Hopefully 2022 would have something very different for us. Let us hope for the very best.